Malo's Dream Car

[mmandley]

Dredging up this old thread, as it looks like Ruby will be a RIP Dream Car.

When I moved to GA one of things I noticed is how fast everyone drives here, also I noticed how much damages is on peoples cars and not fixed. This has always bothered me as I like my cars to look nice and if they get damaged they need to be fixed.

I told Claudia one of my biggest fears is someone will hit me in the Vette. It will be a total loss as everything on the Vette is expensive being fiberglass and such large panels.

Friday evening I was going into town to have dinner with Claudia to celebrate my new job offer, I was going south while the bulk of traffic was going north, there was't even that much traffic in my direction. There was a car in front of me, and he stopped fairly sudden but with more then enough time for me to stop without really jamming my breaks, I had at least 4-6 ft distance from him. When I looked in my rear view mirror the Lexus SUV behind me wasn't stopping. I actually had enough time to lean into the seat and brace for impact.

Slam!! She hit me so hard I was launched into the car in front of me, my glasses and hat flew into the windshield and my phone laying on the consule bounces off the stereo and fly's into the back of the car.

In the pictures you can see the damage but its what you can't see thats really bad.

Ironically I just installed these new LED Tail lights so I was more visible, maybe she was blinded by them.
You can see the entire rear is damaged, the licence plate is actually bent. Drivers Exhaust tip is about 3-4 inches longer then the bumper and originally it was maybe an inch sticking out. Exhaust bracket is incompletely broken off under the car. The spare tire sits behind the fuel tank, I had 1/2 a tank of fuel at the impact, and now I have a full tank so the fuel tank is crushed.

Before the crash





This side pic also doesn't look to bad at first glance, but look at the fender over the wheel, yup thats a crease and the fiberglass has broke, but its still stressed.
Look at the door gap and this tells the real story. There is a gap at the bottom but not the top, the car folded up in the impact and the door is jammed shut. I had to dukes of hazard my way out of the car.

Also when I drove the car home the following day, as Claudia came and picked me up, the rear inner fender rubs on the tire, and this is not a normal soft plastic liner, its hard plastic and metal. Its crushed in about 1-2 inches compared to the passenger side.



Drivers side Hood looks to be ok for the most part, but looking at the hood line where it opens, you can see the hood is bowed as well, it also won't open any more. Its jammed shut.